Re: [DipKnights] Re: Re: (Cat23's Life, or Lack Thereof)

The forum thingy is surely needed of more discussion and in any case it 
would belong to a second phase, not the basic 4 changes. Anyhow the 
games would still be played by email - it's PBEM diplomacy, right?, but 
it could add some accesibility both for new players wanting maybe to 
browse topics of their interest (the mail list does not favor that at 
all) as for experienced players, maybe acting as GMs, who could enjoy of 
a dedicated thread for their game (maps, press, GM notices), without 
need of mantaining their own site weekly for the same purpose (something 
that in most cases ends up being left for some other day and then for 
never). All discussions would be more accesible but the lists should 
remain for active games in any case, as they are played by email and the 
list helps there.

In what regards to me, I don't care if there are other PBEM Dip forums 
over there: I am interested in Cat23, where I've played most of the time 
since 5 years ago.

Anyhow, as said it would be a second phase, if it ever happens. The 
first thing is to put straight what we already have and that means 
getting the homepage straight. With people posted at the Worldmasters 
site and at the Diplomacy ring, it should be fairly easy to do that.

It could be a good idea to check other Diplomacy generalistic sites for 
the case they have a broken link to the old Cat23 portal. The more links 
leading to Rome... the merrier, right?

The link for Realpolitik is http://realpolitik.sourceforge.net/ 
<http://realpolitik.sourceforge.net/>

Regards,
Luis.

David E. Cohen wrote:

> A couple of comments on these mostly good ideas:
>
> The yahoogroup explanations can each be coupled with a Yahoo "subscribe"
> button.
>
> Some appropriate links can be found on my links page (
> http://diplomiscellany.tripod.com/id2.html 
> <http://diplomiscellany.tripod.com/id2.html> , the informational section
> only), but someone else can give the one for Realpolitik. It would now be
> the 2008 edition (a new edition of Dip has just come out), which is, I
> understand, the same as the last edition (99/00).
>
> There is a Dip webring. I am the ringmaster, so I can pretty much assure
> you that Cat23 will be accepted. :^)
>
> Dip forums are a dime a dozen. The yahoogroups are easy enough to learn,
> fairly reliable, and attract people who prefer an email rather than a web
> environment to Dip in. I suppose they can be mirrored on a forum.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Luis" <[email protected] <mailto:lialdamiz%40euskalnet.net>>
> To: "Chris Babcock" <[email protected] 
> <mailto:swift2plunder%40yahoo.com>>
> Cc: "Packrat" <[email protected] <mailto:brn2dip%40yahoo.com>>; "David 
> E. Cohen"
> <[email protected] <mailto:zendip18%40optonline.net>>; "Cat-23 
> NGame" <[email protected] 
> <mailto:cat23-ngame%40yahoogroups.com>>
> Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 3:45 AM
> Subject: Re: [DipKnights] Re: [CAT23-Ngame] Re: (Cat23's Life, or Lack
> Thereof)
>
> > Can we reorganize the worldmasters' Cat23 subpage? I don't want to
> > detract from bigger changes but small adaptative "dolphin projects" are
> > often more feasible than large "whale" ones, as my sister says so often.
> >
> > The two most important things to start with should be:
> >
> > 1. A clearer inroductory page that explains that Cat23 is an open PBEM
> > Diplomacy club that welcomes everybody with interest for the hobby, with
> > maybe a brief history to add some flavor - I can't help with that: I'm
> > only in my late 30s ;-)
> >
> > 2. An easily linkable Yahoo-groups links list (and not that mirror).
> > Explaining and emphasizing which are the most important ones to join
> > (i.e. n-game and the currently ongoing games list - the 1200s) and the
> > meaning of the others (we have a large handful of lists, what may be
> > confusing in itself).
> >
> > 3. Additional helpful links for the newcomer: not just GM hints, model
> > house rules and a link to Dipknights (sincerey, I hought the knights'
> > project was deceased) but maybe also something as basic as a link to
> > Realpolitik download, to the game rules (1996 ed?) and maybe relevant
> > Diplomacy sites like the Diplomacy Archive with all that historical 
> stuff.
> >
> > 4. If there is a Diplomacy web ring (and I believe there is one) the
> > Cat23 page should be part of it with the ring navigation tool on bottom
> > of it.
> >
> > So far the easy-to-do "dolphin project". Additionally larger changes can
> > be done as well. Personally I believe that a separate portal page and
> > even creating a forum (in the line of Redscape, for instance) could
> > help. GMs can find a lot easier to post maps and adjudications to their
> > game threads in such a space than to upload and modify HTML pages as the
> > game goes, provided they have a site. The forum would also allow for
> > general discussions like this to take place in another type of
> > enviroment. The forum itself seems like an better, more attractive
> > "bait" for newcomers than email lists alone, that may be percieved as
> > less friendly and maybe even somewhat prehistoric.
> >
> > If we finally get a separate site, we can always migrate the page easily
> > just by copying and pasting the HTML source code, with no or only minor
> > changes to be done.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Luis.
> >
> >
> >
> > Chris Babcock wrote:
> >
> >>(...)
> >>
> >>
> >>>Anyhow, it seems easier than linking to Cat23's
> >>>lists after the
> >>>relocation under the Worldmasters' wing: the Cat23
> >>>subpage has no
> >>>information whatsoever on what it is about (just a
> >>>board pic and GM
> >>>instructions), plus the yahoo lists are not directly
> >>>linked but you go
> >>>through some "g-mane" mirrors that make it all too
> >>>complicated for any
> >>>casual visitor to find his/her way to the lists.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>Withing the current site structure, the URL to put
> >>links to the Yahoogroups would be:
> >>
> >>http://www.worldmasters.net/cat23_diplomacy/lists/lists.htm 
> <http://www.worldmasters.net/cat23_diplomacy/lists/lists.htm>
> >>
> >>I can lift descriptions of the groups from the
> >>Yahoogroups home page for each group, but I agree that
> >>the lack of content on the Cat23 home page is
> >>appalling. That's not something that I can fix. I need
> >>someone to send me a couple paragraphs at least. Ideal
> >>would be enough pages to define a site:
> >>
> >>Home - Crass promo and blatant gloss
> >>About - Who is Cat23? What are its core values?
> >>History - How did Cat23 happen? Why?
> >>News - What is Cat23 doing and when?
> >>
> >>Get me content (words) and I'll plug them into the
> >>worldmasters.net look and feel. If anyone wants to
> >>redo the layout, that's OK, but you have to think
> >>about making the site maintainable on a non-Windows
> >>platform unless you're going to be do hand maintenance
> >>yourself
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>>I wholly agree with David Watson on Cat23 needing a
> >>>better portal. Other
> >>>improvements could be nice but the portal and easy
> >>>access to the lists from it seem essential.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>Cat23 is the lists these days. Those certainly need to
> >>be more conspicuous than they are in the site I
> >>inherited.
> >>
> >>Chris
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
> .
>
>  



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